My Prayer for the President

Lord,

I pray that the man you allowed to be in the office of the President seeks You first about all else. Before his party. Before his friends. Before his influencers. Before the people he serves. Before his own beliefs.

I pray that he recognizes his world-wide influence and it can be used to show the Goodness of You. That the love You show to him can be seen by many here and across the globe, by the love he shows for the lost, the weak and the defenseless.

I pray that you convict Him of Your convictions. That he leads based on Your Word and not the word of others. Be his moral compass God and lead him onto a straight path of righteousness.

I pray that my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ can recognize that Your heart is deeply saddened by the ideals and beliefs held by some in this nation and around the globe.

I pray that we start to align more closely with Your ideals and Your beliefs. May we serve the poor. Protect orphans and widows. Spread the Good News. Pray. Fast. And live out the Word in action and not just voice.

Give us the strength to avoid unrighteous anger, sexual sin, divorce, lying, retaliation, hatred, worry, and judgement.

Lord, may your name be glorified by the way we live each day as individuals and as a nation.

Be with our President these next four years and use him as a tool for the furtherance of your Kingdom here on Earth.

Amen.

Cystic Fibrosis: The Continual Blessing

I mentioned in last week's Mandi Monday that our pastor gave a great sermon on prayer last Sunday. It was a sermon that reaffirmed some things I already knew, but it was given in a way that brought new perspective on something in my life.

We often say that we are "blessed by CF." We say that we consider CF a blessing in our lives. It's one of those things that is hard to explain; hard to justify. There are many things about CF that I don't consider awesome. I certainly don't love that Ronnie is holed up 3-4 times a day doing treatments when we could use that time doing other things. I don't love the fact that he's away from Mckenna and I for a couple weeks at a time while he's in the hospital. I really don't like the thought of potentially being a young widow. Obviously that's not a certainty, but the possibility of it isn't desirable. I really hate the chance that Mckenna would lose her daddy at some point, before she "should." There are certainly things about CF that don't seem like blessings on the surface. Neither Ronnie, nor myself, would argue that.

But the sermon last week opened my eyes to something. I will admit, I don't have prayer down. I am not the greatest or best when it comes to prayer. I don't always pray the way that I should. I don't always have my prayer life straight. That being said, when our pastor was speaking, I realized EXACTLY what he was talking about. Ronnie and I have it exactly right when it comes to our prayer about CF.

Our pastor simply said this, "We need to stop praying for God to remove us from situations and start praying for God to use us in those situations." That hit home. God's job is not to take away all the struggles in our lives. His job is not to play doctor when it's not according to His will. His job, and ours, is to use us in our struggles and in our circumstances. I don't always remember that in my prayer life, but when it comes to CF, I somehow instinctually applied that principle.

For some reason I never once have prayed for a cure for CF. Not once. In my heart of hearts, I know that's not what God currently has in Ronnie's plan. I know so deep in my being that God is using Ronnie's CF and therefore, I am not going to pray for him to be cured. I will be honest, I'm not always so in-tuned to God's voice that I know exactly what His plan is for us, but this is one area of our lives that I have always known and heard God clearly. Therefore, I have always prayed that God would use us in our situation, not for Him to take us out of this situation.

And in that lies the reason...That is why we think CF is a blessing!

Instead of crying out and asking God to cure Ronnie's CF and having our prayers left unanswered, and us angry, we are praying that God use us in our current situation. As a result, we see God answer our prayers in a big way. Time after time. We see blessing in abundance. God has provided us with great friends, jobs, and situations as a direct result of CF. Day in and day out we are shocked by what God is doing in our lives because of CF. He is pouring out more blessing and fulfillment than any little hurdle CF may put in our path. Our prayer is that He uses CF, not that He removes those hurdles.

It is because of the way we pray about CF that we think CF is blessing.

I have never realized why until last Sunday. It has been a huge learning lesson. My eyes were opened. I need to apply this same principle to other areas of my life. I cannot fathom how much more blessed and overjoyed we can be if we continue to pray in a way that aligns our hearts with His. I need to realize that in all areas of my life God puts me exactly where I need to be today. He wants to use me; He doesn't want to rescue me when it's not according to His plan.

As a result, the prayer I want to pray when it comes to all areas of my life is this: Use me, Lord, and allow me to see the blessings in any circumstance regardless of how they seem on the surface.

In hard times this prayer will be difficult, but I know the blessings that the Creator of the Universe (let that sink in for a moment - the creator of the entire universe) will rain down on me will far outweigh any earthly, "big" challenges I will face in the present.

Prayer Squad Needed

Wether you pray or you throw something out to the universe - I need you. One of my good friends, Kirra, is getting married this weekend. Kirra and I met in college and were basically connected at the hip until both of us graduated. She was like the kid sister that I never had. We'd of course stayed in touch over the years (she was in our wedding) and I've been looking forward to the day that she would meet that someone special and tie the knot. Well, that day is happening this weekend and I couldn't be more happy for her and Tyler. Just a note: At our wedding, Tyler caught the garter belt and Kirra caught the flowers - pretty cool.

Anyway, you're probably wondering why I'm asking for prayer. About three weeks ago, Kirra's dad, Frank, was diagnosed with stomach cancer. It was pretty aggressive and they decided that emergency surgery was necessary. They ended up removing about a third of his stomach during the surgery, but felt like they got all of the cancer. They were also expecting him to fully recover and be out in time for the wedding. That was before he came down with pneumonia and a tube that was put in his stomach starting leaking bile. It's now going to take a miracle for Frank to be able to attend the wedding.

I of course would first pray for that miracle to happen. I know that Kirra is crushed and I'm sure that thought of her dad not being their to walk her down the aisle is devastating. If Frank is not able to attend, I would like prayer for a sense of peace to come over the entire family and for Kirra to be able to enjoy her special day as much as possible.

So, if you would, take some time today to set aside some thoughts or prayers for Kirra and her family. I know that they, as well as myself, would very much appreciate it.

Maybe I Need the Dog Whisperer

6:00am: Apparently someone out there said a little prayer for me cause I felt so much better this morning than I did yesterday! When the alarm went off, I thought that I accidentally set it for the wrong time, cause it felt like I had just closed my eyes to go to bed. Usually that's probably a bad thing, but I felt incredibly rested and ready to tackle the day. I did my normal morning mucus clearance into the sink, but my lung tightness and coughing didn't last for too long today. By the time I started the walk, my coughing was all but done. I had a couple coughs in the beginning of the walk but nothing crazy.

I wish I could tell you why I feel so good today, but I really don't know what it is. Maybe it was the sprints that I did yesterday? Maybe it's because I laid my head on the pillow by 10pm last night? Maybe it was because of the later workout at the gym? I don't know. I would probably just opt to go for the reason that I can be sure of: Prayers were answered and it's by the Grace of God that I was able to get up this morning and get my butt moving.

The walk went really well and I was able to increase the pace compared to the last couple of days. There were a couple of times that I felt myself slowing down and had to focus on picking it up a little. I also made J Beezy do a couple of walk by peeings (she literally walks, or waddles, and pees at the same time). It's probably not the nicest thing in the world to do to my little princess, but I'm trying to break her of the habit of marking her spot every 25 feet. I'll let her take a long pee in the beginning, but after that, it needs to be all about business. That, of course being opening up my lungs and getting nice and loose for the upcoming day. I just don't understand why she doesn't get that. Maybe I need to bring in the Dog Whisperer...

Total Distance: 2.1 miles Time: 36'41"

12:00pm: I ended up walking to the gym today to sneak in some extra mileage and because I felt like doing some sprints. I walked most of the way to warm up my legs and did a 15 second sprint and then a 10 second sprint. It REALLY opens my lungs up. It worked out well also, because today was leg day and they were already warm when I got to the gym.

It was a good day overall and I was able to add weight or reps to pretty much every lift. I felt strong and my lungs felt really good. I tried to focus on taking real deep breaths when I was short of breath from a lift. When I do squats it really takes a lot out of me and literally takes my breath away. So after squats I took about a 2 minute break and just sat on a bench deep breathing. It helped to open my lungs and regain some energy for the final push.

I walked back home and encountered some landscapers with their blowers so I had to tuck my mouth and nose in my shirt. That's the risk I take by walking to the gym, not to mention the car fumes that are passing by. I think it's worth it though cause the walk with the sprints really opens me up. Current Weight: 190 lbs.

Total Distance: .5 miles


5:45pm: Mandi and I decided to explore a different part of the neighborhood today, which ended up making our walk a little longer than normal. I was thinking about doing some sprints during our walk, but my legs were pretty dead from my workout earlier and my left foot was giving me trouble again. It was sore throughout most of the walk and was a nag until about .5 miles left. I think it was good to give it a break from the pounding for the night.


My left lower lung lobe also had some pain in it during the stroll. I'm thinking it's because I have been bringing a lot of stuff up today and maybe I strained something in there a bit. It feels like I'm laying on my back and a 225 lbs man is just standing on that lobe. I don't mind about 200 lbs, but 225? Come on! Sometimes that just happens. I can strain a muscle from coughing or the irritation in a particular lobe starts to sting a little. Only got one choice though: Work through it.


Total Distance: 3.35 miles Time: 55'08"


Total Distance Run/Walk for Day: 5.95 miles